Colm Toibin

No gossip, but have heard he uses his (minor) celebrity to pick up young guys. Who wouldn't?

Have met him briefly and he seems genuinely nice.

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 1

03/31/2013

Love his work, must get caught up. Thanks for the reminder.

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 2

03/31/2013

'The Story of the Night' was terrific, a great gay novel. 'Mothers and Sons' is a good collection of short stories, 'Brooklyn' is a marvellous novel.

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 3

03/31/2013

I think I'm the only one who didn't like "Brooklyn." The protagonist was just so bland.

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 4

03/31/2013

Love The Master, too.

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 5

03/31/2013

"The Story of the Night" was bleak and homophobic, although I think that was a function of the era it covered. His writing style is very perfunctory... The only saving grace for Toibin is that he limns his characters very well.

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 6

03/31/2013

Love his work. There are a number of really good contemporary gay and lesbian writers from the UK, but Toibin is my favorite.

Don't have any gossip either, but I remember Christopher Hitchens saying somewhere that he thought Toibin was the greatest conversationalist he'd ever met. If you've ever seen or heard any of his interviews, you can see why. He's very engaging, brilliant and quite funny (with that lovely lilting Irish accent, of course).

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 7

03/31/2013

"limns"?? Oh, please, r6,

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 8

04/01/2013

Did you have to look it up in the dictionary, R8? It's a fairly common word, you know...

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 9

04/01/2013

There's a new short story by Colm Toibin in the latest New Yorker. It seems autobiographical, and he writes about his relationship with a younger man. Maybe R1 is right about him!

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 10

03/16/2015

[quote] but have heard he uses his (minor) celebrity to pick up young guys.

We skype chatted once, in Dublin. It didn't go that far, though.

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 11

03/16/2015

Tell us more, R11!

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 12

03/16/2015

Wasn't crazy about his latest, Nora Webster, but still think he aces.

by Fiona Shaw, Axe-Murderess

reply 13

03/16/2015

The Story of the Night was absolutely horrific. The most saccharine ending imaginable. I was coughing up syrup by the time I was done.

The Master was much better, though I could never finish it. All it did was make me want to read actual Henry James or something by Hollinghurst.

Unlike Cunningham, he has actual talent, but they're both pretty bland writers.

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